Tools for Public Speaking
Tools for Public Speaking contains resources to enhance public presentations
about New Directions. This section contains the following:
o Sample Speech
o Suggested Talking Points
How To Use the Sample Speech
A sample 20-minute speech that provides an overview of New Directions is
presented in this section. The sample speech is designed to use as a keynote
speech about New Directions, and can be used when opening a statewide task
force, community forum, or plenary session. It is built in segment--after a brief
introduction to New Directions, the speech lays out challenges to enhance
victims' rights, discusses the critical role of each stage of the justice system, and
highlights what allied professions can do to help crime victims. Given the type of
the audience and time allotted for the presentation, the speech can be reduced
to 10 minutes (noted in speech). The speech can be even more persuasive and
powerful if presenters incorporate their experiences into the speech. Please
note: when using crime victim stories, always seek permission from the victim
before including such information in any speech.
How To Use the Talking Points for Presentation
The suggested talking points presented in this section highlight key issues and
ideas, promising practices, and recommendations found within New Directions.
They are organized to correspond with New Directions' five global challenges.
Talking points are provided for each global challenge in an easy to use format
that includes introductory statements, examples to underscore the topic, and
summary statements. The talking points are designed to enhance any
presentation. When combined with specific examples from local, State, Tribal,
national, or international speaker experiences and concerns, presentations can
be even more informative and useful.
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Sample New Directions Speech
Even though nearly 30,000 victims' rights laws have been enacted across the
Nation and 10,000 victim assistance programs have been established in
communities to help crime victims, the trauma of victimization is very painful for
too many of America's 31 million crime victims each year. Let's consider just
three examples of crime victims' experiences in the aftermath of criminal
victimization. While these cases are hypothetical, they contain real problems
experienced by real crime victims in communities across the Nation every day.
Johnnie, a molested child, is so frightened by the strange and daunting criminal
justice system that when it comes time to testify in court, he is too afraid to
speak--the molester goes free. Sophie, the mother of three children, has been
hospitalized from the injuries she received as the result of yet another brutal
beating at the hands of her husband. Sophie now must choose between life in a
home where she and her children risk further violence on a daily basis or life on
the street where their safety and well-being are no more certain. Susan, a rape
victim, becomes aware that her attacker has been released from prison when
she sees him in the grocery store because no one bothered to tell her in
advance that he would be getting out of prison.
You have probably heard stories just like these. You see them on televison or
read about them in the paper every day. You or someone you know might have
even experienced such injustice first hand. Such affronts to our basic principles
of justice seem to affect us at a visceral level, shaking our belief in the
fundamental fairness of our society and our criminal justice system.
Though the U.S. Department of Justice reports that for the past several years
crime rates have been decreasing overall, evidence of violence and fear of
crime seem to surround us in our daily lives. Statistics indicate that crime is on
the decline, but Americans feel less safe now than at any other time in our
Nation's history. The problems of crime and crime victims seem overwhelming
and intractable. Some choose to look the other way, rendered helpless and
hopeless by the nature and magnitude of the problem. Yet even if you are
someone whose sense of moral outrage at such injustice urges you to action,
what can be done that will make any difference?
What can one person do? Indeed, what can an entire community do to address
problems that seem as formidable as they do pervasive? In short, how do we
address the many injustices crime victims suffer under our Nation's current
system of justice? Tough questions that seem to have no easy answers.
It may surprise you to learn that I stand before you today, ready to suggest
answers to these difficult questions--or at least to suggest a place to begin
looking for solutions--the answer is as simple as turning to a single book. [Hold
up New Directions]--a book representing the collective knowledge of more
than 1,000 individuals from communities across the Nation and published by
the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. It's called New
Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century,
and it's available to you absolutely free. This is no ordinary government
publication. Rather, as its title implies, it sets forth recommendations from
individuals across the Nation. New Directions represents the voices of crime
victims, along with hundreds of victim services and justice professionals, who
contributed to the development of this groundbreaking publication. New
Directions provides recommendations from the field for the field for improving
the treatment of crime victims in every part of the Nation.
The Office for Victims of Crime, within the U.S. Department of Justice,
supported the development of this publication by soliciting input through expert
summits, public hearings, focus groups, national training academies, and
symposia. These forums included professionals representing the judiciary, law
enforcement, prosecution, and corrections. Also included were crime victims,
victim service providers, crime victim compensation program personnel, and
allied victim services professionals from every constituency. The result of these
efforts is a definitive description of the "state of crime victim justice" in America
today and recommendations for the future. The cumulative knowledge gained
from the contributors allows unparalleled precision in defining the problems of
crime victims and, more importantly, offers the most promising solutions to
those problems. New Directions incorporates 250 recommendations and
hundreds of promising practices and practical strategies to those individuals,
organizations, and agencies who provide victims' rights and services in either the
private or public sector.
For example, New Directions contains an entire chapter on children as victims,
which includes a host of policies, programs, and procedures that have helped
minimize the trauma and emotional distress child victims of sexual assault must
endure during their involvement with the criminal justice process. This chapter
discusses programs, such as child advocacy centers, which provide a caring,
sensitive environment for taking care of the legal and emotional needs of child
victims such as young Johnnie. It includes the fundamental conceptual
framework for collaborative community responses to domestic violence so
victims can avail themselves of the resources that will allow them to escape a
life of torment for one of hope, safety, and security. New Directions suggests
countless ways for the criminal justice system to protect and keep safe victims
such as Sophie, including enforcing anti-stalking laws. New Directions also cites
strategies, such as automated notification, which would greatly enhance the
ability to provide notice of a perpetrator's release to the victim before the
perpetrator hits the street. This would allow crime victims like Susan, a rape
survivor, to feel some sense of safety and security knowing that at least she will
know the status and location of her offender.
Perhaps more than to any other segment of our society, New Directions speaks
to criminal and juvenile justice officials who have the primary responsibility for
keeping our democracy's most sacred promise--the promise of justice for all its
citizens. Indeed, justice officials often define what "justice" really means for our
Nation's crime victims. They define its nature and its scope. New Directions
challenges those both inside and outside the criminal and juvenile justice
systems to re-examine the way in which they administer victim justice.
New Directions, in essence, poses the question, "What, indeed, are the
boundaries of justice?" The answer resulting from years of input from a diverse
community of professionals and volunteers serving victims is this: Helping
victims should not be about boundaries. Justice officials and society as a whole
must stop asking, "What is the least we can do for crime victims?" Rather,
justice officials and society must start asking, "What is the most we can do for
crime victims?" The provision of quality victim services extends beyond the
enforcement of victims' rights. It asks justice officials to do more than live
up to the letter of victim-related laws, but go further and live up to the spirit of
those laws. This means that provision of quality victim services means doing
what is right for victims to make them feel respected and validated, to help them
reconstruct their lives in the aftermath of a crime, and to show that the justice
process can be caring, concerned, and just.
Justice practitioners, in particular, can use New Directions as a road map for
victim justice. Traditionally, like Johnnie, Sophie, and Susan, victims have
endured numerous detours and roadblocks in their search for justice. This
remarkable book [hold up book] offers simply that: new directions toward a
Nation and communities that make quality victim services and expanded
victims' rights a destination, rather than a dream. (10 minute stop point)
New Directions offers law enforcement vital resources on how to best fulfill
their role as the "first responders" to crime and victims. It emphasizes promising
practices that will result in positive victims' memories and opinions of their first
encounter with the justice system. The numerous recommendations, policies,
protocols, and procedures offered by New Directions provide a sound
basis for realizing law enforcement's fundamental mandate to "protect and
serve" victims of crime.
New Directions provides prosecutors specific recommendations for their role
and responsibilities for the implementation of victims' core rights, which are
notification, participation, input, and protection. Equally important, New
Directions highlights the vital and central role of the prosecutor to important
collaborative efforts involving allied professions and the community in pursuit of
victim justice. As a primary purveyor of victim justice, prosecutors can serve
as guides to victims who journey toward justice, using the guideposts provided
by New Directions.
New Directions clearly recognizes and describes the significant leadership role
of judges. The judiciary has the power and responsibility to ensure a fair and
respectful justice process to all parties involved, including victims. New
Directions validates this key leadership role and offers promising practices that
encourage judges to use and cultivate their inherent leadership responsibilities to
promote justice for all.
New Directions documents the tremendous progress that has been made in the
past two decades in victims' rights and services during the post-sentencing
phases of cases. While the role of community and institutional corrections has
traditionally focused on offender management and supervision, their
responsibilities for implementing victims' rights and services and focusing on
community protection and safety are without parallel. For corrections officials,
New Directions offers many model policies, programs, and practices that have
been developed through partnerships between victim services and correctional
agencies. Together they strive to achieve a balance of the rights, needs, and
interests of victims, offenders, and the community.
New Directions rightfully recognizes our Nation's victim services community as
"the glue that holds it all together." Many people are surprised to learn that there
are more than 10,000 programs that serve victims of crime, located in
communities of all kinds--large, small, urban, and rural. While the policies
and programs of victim services communities may vary, their central mission
remains the same. They want to ensure that victims of crime are afforded rights
and services in a manner respectful of the trauma they have endured and
insightful into their most critical needs. New Directions offers valuable
perspectives into the roles of victim service providers, who act as catalysts for
positive change and as caregivers in victims' time of need.
For allied professional stakeholders on the road to victim justice, New
Directions provides both a road map and indispensable "roadside services" that
help victims progress. These services take the form of concrete, creative
examples of programs and practices that recognize the mutual responsibility of
the Nation, the community, and the individuals to secure justice for victims of
crime.
The justice system alone cannot accomplish the lofty goals of victim justice.
Rather, it relies on the active involvement and creative, collaborative responses
of individuals and agencies seeking to improve society's perception and
treatment of crime victims. Everyone can help--health and mental health
professionals, educators, members of the news media, the faith community, and
business and legal professionals. What is the most important is that, as
Maryland homicide victim Stephanie Roper recorded in her journal before her
tragic murder, "One person can make a difference, and everyone should try."
New Directions challenges key stakeholders to support initiatives that improve
the plight of victims and provides countless, creative solutions that have been
developed over the life of the victims' rights discipline that have made a
significant difference for victims.
It is often said that a "just" society is best measured by how its citizens are
treated by the justice system. By that standard, we live in a world of unfulfilled
promise and potential when it comes to victim justice. New Directions is by far
the best book ever written to guide our Nation in its journey toward that justice.
Consider that 31 million crimes will be committed this year. This means that
virtually everyone will be a direct or indirect victim of crime. It is in everyone's
interest to join in the journey even though the trip may be long and difficult.
Even though the first generation of the victims' rights movement has shortened
our journey by many miles, the end is not in sight. We may not make it to the
promised land, to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but we can take
solace in knowing that each day, in big and small ways, we take steps that will
ease the journey to justice for the countless generations of victims who will
follow in our footsteps.
New Directions offers us the opportunity to take the small steps that will allow
our Nation to take giant leaps forward for victims. It provides the blue print and
the tools, but it is up to all of us, joined together, to build the road. Remember,
"many hands make light work," so I encourage each and every one of you to
spread the word. Share New Directions, share its ideas, share its vision of
victim justice. Share it in part or in whole, with friends, with colleagues, with
community leaders, and with elected officials. Share everyone who cares, or
should care, about the quality of justice in America. Injustice to one of us is an
injustice to all of us. . . especially to victims of crime.
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Talking Points for New Directions: Five Global Challenges for the Field
Certain key recommendations emerged during compilation of the hundreds
of recommendations from the field and from listening to the voices of crime
victims, their advocates, and the allied professionals working with crime
victims throughout the Nation.
The following five global challenges for responding to crime victims form
the core of the hundreds of ideas and recommendations contained in New
Directions.
1. To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in
Federal, State, juvenile, military, and Tribal justice systems, and administrative
proceedings.
2. To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services
regardless of the nature of their victimization, age, race, religion, gender,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location.
3. To integrate crime victims' issues into all levels of the Nation's educational
system to ensure that justice and allied professionals and other service
providers receive comprehensive training on victims' issues as part of their
academic education and continuing training in the field.
4. To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims' rights and
services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary
partnerships.
5. To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the Nation's
response to violence and those victimized by crime.